Also at 10 a.m., Rep. Joe Crowley and Food Bank For New York City President and CEO Margarette Purvis criticize proposed reductions in federal funding for the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (food stamps) as part of the Farm Bill under consideration by Congress; Key Food supermarket, 46-02 Queens Blvd., Queens.

Also at 10 a.m., legislators and advocates will gather in the Well of the LOB (Albany) to mark the centennial of the suffrage campaign and unveil a resolution honoring the “Spirit of 1776” wagon used in organizing women to vote in New York.

At 11 a.m., the Senate Republicans and local law enforcement officials hold a press conference on the Public Assistance Integrity Act, Room 124, state Capitol, Albany. (The act prohibits welfare recipients from using cash assistance to purchase tobacco, alcoholic beverages, lottery
tickets or to gamble).

Also at 11 a.m., civil rights and legal advocates and residents discuss planned legal action challenging the NYPD’s surveillance of businesses frequented by Muslim residents and area mosques; One Police Plaza, Park Row and Pearl Street.

At noon, NYC Council members Margaret Chin and Brad Lander discuss funding for social services and express support for state legislation that would withdraw Madison Square Garden’s property tax exemption; steps, City Hall, Manhattan.

At 1 p.m., Progressive coalitions unite to call on the Independent Democratic Conference to pass bills opposed by Senate Republicans, Million Dollar Staircase, Third Floor, State Capitol, Albany.

Cuomo acknowledged it is unlikely lawmakers will agree to strengthen abortion rights or create a public financing system for state campaigns before the legislative session ends this week.

“Tainted by a series of corruption scandals and at loggerheads over the highest-profile legislative issues, lawmakers seem eager simply to return home.”

Cuomo and legislative leaders spent over an hour behind closed doors trying to finalize legislation to privatize the LIPA, create tax-free zones on upstate university campuses, reauthorize binding arbitration with special provisions for fiscally distressed cities, and authorize up to four new casinos around the state.

Cuomo’s early victory this year in getting Senate Republicans to pass the SAFE Act may have made them “gun shy,” says Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, and hampered the governor’s ability to push them on the rest of his progressive agenda at the end of the session.

The governor suggested the loss of his Women’s Equality Act will likely come back to haunt some senators – especially the IDC members – in next year’s elections.

As the legislative session winds down, all eyes in the Capitol are on IDC Leader Jeff Klein, who insists: “I don’t bring bills to the floor that fail. That’s not what leaders do.”

The fate of a proposal to allow Nassau and Suffolk counties to borrow up to $500 million each through the state Dormitory Authority was unclear last night.

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch’s tombstone at Trinity Church in Washington Heights was mistakenly engraved with the wrong birth year — Dec. 12, 1942, instead of 1924. The error is being corrected.

With her support in the polls dipping, NYC Council Speaker/Democratic mayoral frontrunner Chris Quinn went on the attack against her rivals.

Even in her early career as a gay rights and housing advocate, Quinn preferred an insider, work-the-system game to rabble-rousing confrontation.

Quinn is highlighting her record on the City Council as the crucial factor that sets her apart from her competitors, but a similar strategy failed when her predecessors as council speaker = Gifford Miller and Peter Vallone Sr. – ran for mayor.

Denouncing Cuomo as a “schoolyard bully,” GOP Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin confirmed he is “considering” a run against him in 2014, fueled by his opposition to the SAFE Act.

Language quietly inserted into a bill that sailed through the Legislature singled out five luxury NYC developments to make them eligible for tax breaks — which could cost the city tens of millions of dollars in property taxes.

In an attempt to force change upon a sector that operates with scant supervision and produces mixed results, state Financial Service Superintendent Ben Lawsky plans to use an obscure state banking law to rein in banks’ use of consultants.

Two weeks after Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes’ campaign emailed reporters to announce the endorsement of Rep. Yvette Clarke, the congresswoman was on the steps of Brooklyn’s borough hall to back one of Hynes’ opponents, Ken Thompson.

New York City’s high-school graduation rate dipped slightly in 2012 for the second consecutive year to 60.4 percent as it became tougher to qualify for a diploma.

Statewide, the graduation rate held steady at 74 percent, even as high school graduation standards were increased.

Alone among Bloomberg’s 250 ideas to shield New York City from storms and the impacts of climate change, his so-called SeaPort City for the east side of Lower Manhattan has prompted skepticism, criticism and confusion.

Former Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll’s house is for sale, and the Cuomo administration official said he plans to buy a house outside the city, on Onondaga Hill.

In a letter to Medicaid Inspector General James Cox, representatives of the U.S. House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform chastised him for advising an employee to get permission to talk to committee probers, and for not providing requested documents.

US Sen. Charles Schumer, self-professed “big dog,” flew into Syracuse to put his clout behind city efforts to redevelop three vacant gas station properties at a prominent South Side intersection.

This entry was posted by Liz Benjamin on June 18, 2013 at 6:57 am, and is filed under Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

chinwan

[US Sen. Charles Schumer, self-professed “big dog,”]

That’s “BIG HOG” – the typos are insufferable.

Don1776

Preet Bharara is the one bright spot in NY politics.

Cuomo, Silver, and Skelos have taken great pains to avoid bringing up any reforms that would actually change behaviors in Albany. Instead, they keep offering up window dressing like JCOPE and campaign finance, knowing they will be ineffectual.

The Cuomo-Silver campaign finance proposal does not prohibit transfers of these public funds to political parties, and even would allow lawmakers/lawbreakers like Lopez, Smith, and Estrada to use these funds to pay their fines, as reported by Celeste Katz.

Some reform, welcome to Andy’s new New York. The sooner Preet indicts more of these clowns, the better.

Don1776

My error – make that Espada, as in Pedro, Jr; another one of those insufferable typos as noted by Chinwan.

BusterBrown

[Quinn preferred an insider, work-the-system game to rabble-rousing confrontation.]

You’ve got to have BOTH types of people for any “movement” to succeed. The rabble rousers prod “the establishment” into working with the “more reasonable” insiders.

gecannonphd

(The governor suggested the loss of his Women’s Equality Act will likely come back to haunt some senators – especially the IDC members – in next year’s elections. )
*********
Women advocacy groups have supported the Women’s agenda, and
apparently will not support a smaller bill that lacks the abortion
section.

Often, half a loaf is better than none; and it could very well end up as a total wash on the women’s agenda.

The NYT this morning has a lengthy front page story on how the state
level movement to outlaw, and restrict, abortion is being aggressively
promoted by right-to-life advocates, and their water carriers in the
GOP.

The legal right to abortion under certain conditions is important.

It is also important to limit abortions; making them very rare and safe.